4 ms·

Without edges on the buttons, you no longer know where you can click. The affordances thus have shrank to the edge of the images themselves, reducing usability,

by shard 6y ago

Without edges on the buttons, you no longer know where you can click. The affordances thus have shrank to the edge of the images themselves, reducing usability, especially for people who have motor control issues.

seanwilson 6y ago
> Without edges on the buttons, you no longer know where you can click. I don't see the issue. It's obvious to me by looking that they're buttons and users aim to click in the middle so if they miss by a little it's likely going to work if you mean that. Even if it was an issue, it sounds like a very small one and a tradeoff for a cleaner look. Nothing is perfect.
- shard 6y ago
  It is sometimes not easy for those of us who are used to technology to see the struggles of others who are not. I know that my parents have had a hard time identifying flat design buttons such as these, not realizing that there are buttons until I pointed them out.
w0utert 6y ago
The buttons do highlight when you move over them, so it's entirely clear if you hit them if you would click. Or is that not what you mean by the 'affordances' of these buttons?
- shard 6y ago
  Ah then that would mitigate the issue a bit. It would obviously be better for pointe targeting purposes if the button edges are visible ahead of time so that users know where it's acceptable for their pointers to land, but having them show up when the pointer hovers over them would help some.
- paulmooreparks 6y ago
  This means the user has to roll the mouse around to discover what's clickable. That's not usable, it's frustrating.
  - w0utert 6y ago
    In the case of the tool buttons in macOS windows my feeling is that this is really is splitting hairs. Literally everything that is not the same color as the toolbar itself is clickable. The frustration or the supposed 'cognitive overload' is purely theoretical.

4 ms·

Without edges on the buttons, you no longer know where you can click. The affordances thus have shrank to the edge of the images themselves, reducing usability,

by shard 6y ago

seanwilson 6y ago
> Without edges on the buttons, you no longer know where you can click. I don't see the issue. It's obvious to me by looking that they're buttons and users aim to click in the middle so if they miss by a little it's likely going to work if you mean that. Even if it was an issue, it sounds like a very small one and a tradeoff for a cleaner look. Nothing is perfect.
- shard 6y ago
  It is sometimes not easy for those of us who are used to technology to see the struggles of others who are not. I know that my parents have had a hard time identifying flat design buttons such as these, not realizing that there are buttons until I pointed them out.
w0utert 6y ago
The buttons do highlight when you move over them, so it's entirely clear if you hit them if you would click. Or is that not what you mean by the 'affordances' of these buttons?
- shard 6y ago
  Ah then that would mitigate the issue a bit. It would obviously be better for pointe targeting purposes if the button edges are visible ahead of time so that users know where it's acceptable for their pointers to land, but having them show up when the pointer hovers over them would help some.
- paulmooreparks 6y ago
  This means the user has to roll the mouse around to discover what's clickable. That's not usable, it's frustrating.
  - w0utert 6y ago
    In the case of the tool buttons in macOS windows my feeling is that this is really is splitting hairs. Literally everything that is not the same color as the toolbar itself is clickable. The frustration or the supposed 'cognitive overload' is purely theoretical.